Optical Disc, Optical Disc Driving Apparatus, Optical Disc Driving Method, Data Processing Apparatus, and Optical Disc Recording/Reproducing Apparatus

ABSTRACT

By avoiding the problem that in a hybrid optical disc with a standard-density recording area and a high-density recording area, an optical pickup designed to be suitable for the standard-density recording area cannot operate as desired in the high-density recording area and may cause a malfunction, damage to the disc drive or optical disc is prevented and optimal control is enabled. Access operation identification information such as reproducing identification information  225  indicating whether or not information recorded in the user data area  222  of the optical disc can be reproduced under the reproducing conditions of the optical disc driving apparatus is recorded in the lead-in area  222 . The optical disc driving apparatus reads this type of access operation identification information, compares it with access operation identification information possessed by the optical disc driving apparatus, and if they do not correspond, does not carry out access operations by the optical head to the user data area  222 , because reproducing or recording compatibility with the optical disc  201  is lacking.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an optical disc such as any of thevarious types of DVD discs, including DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile DiscRead Only Memory), DVD-R (Recordable), and DVD-RW (Rewritable); theinvention also relates to optical disc driving apparatus and an opticaldisc driving method that operate according to information recorded inthese optical discs, to data processing apparatus connected to theoptical disc driving apparatus, to optical disc recording apparatus orreproducing apparatus equipped with the optical disc driving apparatus(apparatus that can perform at least one of the two operations ofrecording on and reproducing from an optical disc will also be referredto as ‘optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus’), to optical discsfor operational testing, and to an operational test method.

BACKGROUND ART

As technology for enabling the physical properties of discs and unitareas to be distinguished easily and accurately while maintainingcompatibility with discs having existing formats, there is technologythat records information about such physical properties as the materialfrom which the recording medium is made, the type of disc, its linearvelocity, its track pitch, its inertial moment, and its shape and sizein a subcode provided in the disc format, and has the recordingapparatus or reproducing apparatus read the subcode (For example,Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-312860).

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

For recording on or reproducing from optical discs with differentphysical properties, or an optical disc in which different areas havedifferent physical properties, recording or reproducing control suitedfor both types of optical discs or for each area is essential.

Although information about the physical properties is recorded in thesubcode in the prior art noted above, when the difference in physicalproperties includes a difference in recording density, the informationabout the physical properties may itself be unreadable, in which caserecording or reproducing control suitable for the optical disc cannot becarried out.

This problem is particularly pronounced in the hybrid optical discsproposed as next-generation discs, in which a single disc includes botha standard-density recording area and a high-density recording area.

In this type of hybrid optical disc, an optical pickup designed for thestandard-density recording area is unable to operate as desired in thehigh-density recording area and may cause a malfunction. For example,since the linear recording density differs in the high-density recordingarea, it may not be possible to detect the linear velocity, disablingcontrol of the disc rotation so that the spindle motor runs out ofcontrol, or the track-following operation may be disabled because thetrack density differs, so that in the worst case the tracking actuatoris burned out by an overcurrent flow.

Aside from cases in which the differing physical property involves therecording density, problems may also occur if the allowable reproducingpower differs. For example, in an optical disc of the write-once type orthe rewritable type, in which the maximum value of the reproducing poweris predetermined, repeated reproducing operations at a reproducing powerin excess of the rated value may erase recorded information.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an opticaldisc, an optical disc driving apparatus and an optical disc drivingmethod, a data processing apparatus connected to an optical disc drivingapparatus, an optical disc recording apparatus/reproducing apparatusequipped with the optical disc driving apparatus, an optical disc foroperational resting, and an operational test method that can preventoptical disc driving apparatus from causing damage to the optical discor to the optical disc driving apparatus itself.

The present invention is an optical disc used in an optical disc drivingapparatus in which information is accessed by an optical head and theaccessed information is read, wherein access operation identificationinformation indicating whether or not the optical disc driving apparatuscan access a particular area of the optical disc is held in a secondarea other than the particular area.

According to the present invention, optical control that prevents anoptical disc driving apparatus from causing damage to an optical disc orto the optical disc driving apparatus itself is possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an optical discin a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an optical disc driving apparatus in asecond embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operations in a third embodiment whenan optical disc is loaded into an optical disc driving apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating operations in the third embodimentwhen the optical disc driving apparatus receives a command from itshost.

FIG. 5 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an optical discin a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating operations in the fourth embodimentwhen the optical disc is loaded into an optical disc driving apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a drawing showing the recording area format in a fifthembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an optical discin a sixth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an optical discin a seventh embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an opticaldisc in an eighth embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operations in a tenth embodimentwhen an optical disc is loaded into an optical disc driving apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an opticaldisc in an eleventh embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a drawing showing the relationship between specificationversion information and reproducing type information.

FIG. 14 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an opticaldisc in a twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a drawing schematically showing an optical disc comprisingareas with a plurality of linear densities.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an optical disc driving device in athirteenth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating operations in a fourteenthembodiment when the optical disc is loaded into an optical disc drivingapparatus.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating operations in a fourteenthembodiment when the optical disc driving apparatus receives a commandfrom its host.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a data processing apparatus having anoptical disc driving apparatus in a fifteenth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating operations in the fifteenthembodiment when the data processing apparatus issues a command to theoptical disc driving apparatus.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating operations in an operational testmethod for an optical disc driving apparatus using an optical disc in asixteenth embodiment.

BEST MODE OF PRACTICING THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to theattached drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the recording area format of an optical discin a first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1 (a), from its inner edge toits outer edge, the optical disc 1 comprises a BCA (Burst Cutting Area)20 in which information is recorded when the fabrication of the opticaldisc 1 has been completed, a lead-in area 21 in which information aboutthe physical properties of the optical disc 1 is recorded, a user dataarea 22 in which content data are recorded, and a lead-out area 23 inwhich the same information is recorded as in the lead-in area 21.Reproduction by the optical disc driving apparatus proceedssequentially-outward from the inner circumference of the optical disc 1.

As shown in FIG. 1 (b), operation management information 24 formanagement and control of the operation of the optical disc drivingapparatus that reproduces signals from the optical disc 1 is recorded inthe lead-in area 21.

FIG. 1 (c) shows the recording format of the operation managementinformation 24. The operation management information 24 in FIG. 1 (c)comprises identification information 25, 28, . . . defining operationsthat the optical disc driving apparatus performs when playing theoptical disc 1, operation definitions 26, 29, . . . defining operationsthat the optical disc driving apparatus performs when the identificationinformation 25, 28, . . . is unintelligible, and reserved areas 27, 30,. . . reserved for recording information that may be required in thefuture. The optical disc 1 may define a plurality of identificationinformation 25, 28, . . . for the operations that the optical discdriving apparatus performs.

As shown at FIG. 1 (d), the operational management information given inidentification information A 25 and operation definition A 26 is accessoperational management information for managing access operations (seekoperations) by the optical head of the optical disc driving apparatus tothe user data area 22. The access operation identification information31, which is an identification code for access operations by the opticalhead of the optical disc driving apparatus, is recorded inidentification information A 25, and an access operation inhibition bit32 is allocated in operation definition A 26 to indicate whether accessoperations to the user data area 22 are prohibited or not when theaccess operation identification information 31 of the loaded opticaldisc 1 is unintelligible to the optical disc driving apparatus.Therefore, when the access operation identification information 31 ofthe loaded optical disc 1 is unintelligible to the optical disc drivingapparatus, if it recognizes that the access operation inhibition bit 32is set to ‘1’, it halts access operations to the user data area 22 anddoes not have the optical head perform read operations. Even if theaccess operation identification information 31 of the loaded opticaldisc 1 is unintelligible, however, if the access operation inhibitionbit 32 is cleared to ‘0’, the optical disc driving apparatus continuesnormal operations. If the access operation identification information 31is intelligible, normal operations continue without the reading of theaccess operation inhibition bit 32.

The operation management information 24 is recorded in the lead-in area21 in this embodiment, but it may also be recorded in the BCA 20 orlead-out area 23.

When the optical disc driving apparatus recognizes that the accessoperation inhibition bit 32 is set to ‘1’, in the description above,access operations to the user data area 22 were halted, but accessoperations may be halted immediately without even reading the rest ofthe lead-in area 21.

An example in which the optical disc 1 was a reproduce-only optical discsuch as a DVD-ROM disc was shown above; in this case, the operationmanagement information 24 is preferably pre-recorded by the optical discmanufacturer.

In this embodiment, even if the optical disc 1 includes information thatthe optical disc driving apparatus cannot read, because the optical disc1 is a new disc version or for some other such reason, the operationmanagement information 24 in the lead-in area 21 can be read, so accessoperations by the optical head to the user data area 22 can be inhibitedto protect the contents of the optical disc and avoid optical discdamage and other worst-case scenarios.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an optical disc driving apparatus 100 forthe optical disc in the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optical disc 1 is read by an optical pick-up(PU) 2, followed by amplification in an RF signal processor 5. The RFsignal processor 5 outputs a reproduced-RF signal to a binarizer 6, andgenerates a tracking error signal, a focus error signal, and othersignals which are supplied to a servo processor 13 for servo control.

The servo processor 13 generates a focus drive signal and a trackingdrive signal responsive to the focus error signal and tracking errorsignal, and supplies them to a two-axis driver 15. The two-axis driver15 performs focus and tracking control by driving a focus coil and atracking coil in the optical pickup 2.

Seek access to a desired address is carried out as follows. The servoprocessor 13 generates a sled control signal according to a sled errorsignal obtained as a low-frequency component of the tracking errorsignal supplied from the RF signal processor 5, and to access executioncontrol from the system controller 12, and supplies the sled controlsignal to a sled driver 14. The sled driver 14 slides the optical pickup2 by driving a sled 3 responsive to the sled control signal.

During reproducing, the optical disc 1 is controlled to rotate at aconstant velocity or a constant angular velocity by driving a spindlemotor 4 according to a control signal from a spindle motor (SPM) driver16. The reproducing laser power in the optical pickup 2 is controlled byan automatic laser power controller (ALPC) 11 responsive to a lasercontrol signal from the system controller 12.

The optical head comprises the optical pickup 2, the sled 3, and thespindle motor 4.

Next, the operation in reproducing information recorded on the opticaldisc 1 will be described.

The RF signal obtained by the RF signal processor 5 is digitized by thebinarizer 6 and supplied to the encoder/decoder 7 as a modulated signal.The encoder/decoder 7 functions partly as a decoder for reproducing andpartly as an encoder for recording. During reproducing it decodes themodulated signal by a process that includes demodulation, errorcorrection via a buffer memory 8, de-interleaving, and other signalprocessing. The decoded signal is output to a host 10 through aninterface (I/F) 9 such as an ATAPI interface. The system controller 12exchanges commands and other information with the servo processor 13,the encoder/decoder 7, and the host 10.

The initial operation of the optical disc driving apparatus 100 will bedescribed below.

First, when a optical disc 1 is inserted into the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 and its power is switched on, it accesses the optical disc1, starting from the inner edge and proceeding up to a predeterminedaddress in the lead-in area 21. The encoder/decoder 7 begins bufferingdata in the buffer memory 8, correcting errors in the reproducedinformation, and de-interleaving the information.

After error correction, from the information that has been correctlyreproduced from the lead-in area 21, an operation management informationextraction means 17 in the encoder/decoder 7 extracts the operationmanagement information 24 and outputs it to the system controller 12.The operation management information 24 is analyzed by an operationmanagement information analysis means 18 in the system controller 12.More specifically, first the system controller 12 detects theidentification information 25, 28, . . . in the operation managementinformation 24; if it can tell what type of operations theidentification information 25, 28, . . . specifies, normal operationproceeds; if the identification information 25, 28, . . . isunintelligible, the operation is controlled according to the operationdefinitions 26, 29, . . . .

When the detected identification information 25, 28, . . . isidentification information 31 for access operation managementinformation, if the optical disc driving apparatus 100 cannot identifythe operation corresponding to the identification information, itperforms the operations described in operation definition A 26, whichindicates what to do in such an eventuality. If the access operationinhibition bit 32 is set to ‘1’, a servo control signal S1 inhibitingaccess operations to the user data area 22 outward of the lead-in area21 is supplied to the servo processor 13. Travel of the optical headinto the user data area 22 is thereby inhibited, and a state of still(stationary) reproducing in the lead-in area 21 is entered.

Still (stationary) reproducing in the lead-in area 21 has been given asone example of access inhibition, but halt processing can be performedas in 1) and 2) below.

1) The two-axis driver 15 turns off focusing in the optical pickup 2,responsive to a focus control signal from the servo processor 13.2) The automatic laser power controller (ALPC) 11 turns off thereproducing laser power in response to the laser control signal S2 fromthe system controller 12, halting emission of light.

When the result of the analysis of the operation management information24 is that access to the user data area 22 is possible, read commandsare issued from the host 10 and information is reproduced.

The optical disc driving apparatus 100 in this embodiment was arecording and reproducing apparatus described as playing areproduce-only optical disc 1, but the embodiment is also applicable towrite-once optical discs and rewritable optical discs such as DVD-R,DVD-RW, etc. When data are recorded on a write-once optical disc or arewritable optical disc, the data, encoded and modulated by theencoder/decoder 7, are recorded by the optical pickup 2 at apredetermined recording laser power under control of the automatic laserpower controller (ALPC) 11. The disc manufacturer pre-records theoperation management information 24 in the lead-in area 21.Alternatively, if there are two types of areas in the lead-in area 21,one being a reproduce-only area and the other a write-once or arewritable area, the disc manufacturer may pre-record in thereproduce-only area in the lead-in area 21, or the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 may record operation management information 24 in thewrite-once or rewritable area in the lead-in area 21 at the request ofthe user or according to the type of data recorded. If the result of theanalysis of the operation management information 24 carried out by thesystem controller 12 is that access to the user data area 22 ispossible, write commands are issued from the host 10 and data arewritten or rewritten in the user data area 22.

In this embodiment, even if the optical disc 1 includes information thatthe optical disc driving apparatus cannot read, because the optical disc1 is a new disc version or for some other such reason, if the accessoperation inhibition bit 32 is ‘1’, access operations by the opticalhead to the user data area 22 can be inhibited to protect the contentsof the optical disc, and to avoid optical disc damage and otherworst-case scenarios.

Third Embodiment

The flow of operations when the optical disc 1 of the first embodimentis loaded into the optical disc driving apparatus 100 will be describedwith reference to FIG. 3.

When the optical disc 1 is loaded into the optical disc drivingapparatus 100, the optical disc driving apparatus 100 executes astarting operation sequence in which, without relying on commands fromthe host 10, it automatically carries out various adjustments whileobtaining various information from the optical disc 1. In the startingoperation sequence, the operation management information extractionmeans 17 in the optical disc driving apparatus 100 obtains the operationmanagement information 24 from the optical disc 1 and extracts theaccess operation identification information 31 (ST11), and the operationmanagement information analysis means 18 decides whether the extractedinformation matches stored identification information (ST12). If theaccess operation identification information 31 matches, the optical discdriving apparatus 100 refers to operation definitions that it holds anddecides on access operation restrictions (ST13) that determine whetheror not to inhibit access operations. If the access operationidentification information 31 does not match, that is, if the accessoperation identification information 31 is unintelligible to the opticaldisc driving apparatus 100, it obtains operation definitions 32 from theoptical disc 1 and determines access operation restrictions according tothose operation definitions 32 (ST14). After deciding on accessoperation restrictions that determine whether or not to inhibit accessoperations, it decides whether further operations in the startingsequence would infringe upon the access operation restrictions (ST15).If they would infringe, that is, if subsequent operations in thestarting sequence are inhibited access operations, these operations arenot carried out, the starting operations are halted, and a standby stateis entered (ST16) in which the optical disc driving apparatus 100 waitsfor a command from the host 10. If they would not infringe, startingoperations are continued, ending in a transition to the standby state inwhich the optical disc driving apparatus 100 waits for a command fromthe host 10 (ST17).

Continuing, after the optical disc driving apparatus 100 has performedthe sequence of starting operations in FIG. 3 and is in the standbystate, when it receives a command from the host 10, it operates as shownin FIG. 4. When the optical disc driving apparatus 100 has completed thestarting operations and is waiting for a command from the host 10, if itreceives a command from the host 10 (ST21), it decides (ST22) whether ornot the command infringes the access operation restrictions determinedin step ST13 or ST14 in the starting sequence; if the command infringes,the optical disc driving apparatus 100 outputs an error signal to thehost 10 (ST23) and immediately enters the command waiting state. If thecommand does not infringe the access operation restrictions determinedin the starting sequence, it executes the command (ST24), then stands byand waits for another command.

In this embodiment, even if the optical disc 1 includes information thatthe optical disc driving apparatus cannot read, because the optical disc1 is a new disc version or for some other such reason, if the accessoperation inhibition bit 32 is ‘1’, control can be carried out toinhibit access operations by the optical head to the user data area 22,protecting the contents of the optical disc and avoiding optical discdamage and other worst-case scenarios.

Fourth Embodiment

In this embodiment, a hybrid optical disc 40 in which a standard-densityrecording area 41 coexists with a high-density recording area 42 havinga higher linear density than the standard density will be described.

FIG. 5 illustrates the recording area format of the hybrid-optical disc40 in this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5 (a), the BCA area 43, lead-inarea 44, and lead-out area 46 constitute the standard-density recordingarea 41, and the user data area 45 constitutes the high-densityrecording area 42. The standard-density recording area 41 is areproduce-only area and the high-density recording area 42 is arewritable area.

In this embodiment, besides the access operation identificationinformation 48, access operation inhibition bit 49, and reserved area51, address information 50 is recorded in the operation managementinformation 47. The access operation identification information 48,access operation inhibition bit 49, and reserved area 51 are the same asin the first embodiment.

As the address information 50, the last address in the lead-in area 44is recorded as a logical address referenced to the leading address ofthe lead-in area 44. In general, either a logical address or an absoluteaddress may be used as the address information 50.

FIG. 6 illustrates the flow of operations when the hybrid optical disc40 is loaded into an optical disc driving apparatus. The structure ofthe optical disk driving apparatus is the same as the optical discdriving apparatus 100 shown in the second embodiment.

In FIG. 6, steps ST11, ST12, and ST13 are the same as in the thirdembodiment. When the access operation identification information 48 isunintelligible to the optical disc driving apparatus 100, the operationmanagement information extraction means 17 in the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 obtains the access operation inhibition bit 49 and addressinformation 50 from the hybrid optical disc 40, and determines accessoperation restrictions according to the access operation inhibition bit49 (ST31). After deciding on access operation restrictions thatdetermine whether or not to inhibit access operations, it decideswhether further operations in the starting sequence would infringe uponthe access operation restrictions (ST15). If they would infringe, thatis, if subsequent operations in the starting sequence are inhibitedaccess operations, these operations are halted according to the addressinformation 50 that was obtained, and a standby state is entered inwhich the optical disc driving apparatus 100 waits for a command fromthe host 10 (ST32). If they would not infringe, starting operations arecontinued, ending in a transition to the standby state in which theoptical disc driving apparatus 100 waits for a command from the host 10(ST17). The flow of subsequent operations is the same as shown in FIG.4.

As the hybrid optical disc 40, a disc having a standard-densityrecording area 41 and a high-density recording area 42 was describedabove, but a disc having areas with different physical properties suchas material properties, linear velocity, reproducing laser power, ortrack pitch may be used. In such cases, as the address information 50,the address of a boundary between areas with mutually differing physicalproperties may be recorded, or the last address that can be read by theoptical disc driving apparatus 100 may be recorded.

A disc having a reproduce-only area and a rewritable area was describedabove, but a disc having a reproduce-only area and a write-once area isalso applicable; in addition, the lead-in area 44 and lead-out area 46shown in the second embodiment may include both a reproduce-only areaand a rewritable or write-once area.

Furthermore, the whole disc may constitute a reproduce-only area havinga recording density that is not uniform but changes at some point. Thewhole disc area may also constitute a rewritable and/or a write-oncearea of this type.

According to this embodiment, in a hybrid optical disc 40 having aplurality of areas with mutually differing physical properties such asdifferent linear recording densities, it is possible to prevent problemssuch as the loss of recorded information. In an optical disc drivingapparatus into which such a hybrid optical disc is loaded forreproducing or recording, it is possible to prevent such problems asdisabled disc rotation control, which may cause the spindle motor to runout of control, and disabled tracking control, which may cause thetracking actuator to burn out in the worst case.

Fifth Embodiment

FIG. 7 illustrates the recording area format of a dual layer hybridoptical disc 52 in this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 7 (a), the firstlayer 53 is a standard-density recording area comprising the BCA area55, one part of the user data area 57, and the remaining part of theuser data area 58. The second layer 54 is a high-density recording areahaving a higher linear recording density than the standard density, andconsists of the remaining part of the user data area 58 and the lead-outarea 59. That is, there are two user data areas 57 and 58, one in thefirst layer 53 and one in the second layer 54, and the two user dataareas 57, 58 have different linear recording densities. The user dataareas 57, 58 are rewritable areas and the other areas are reproduce-onlyareas. Addresses in the first layer 53 are assigned sequentially fromthe inner radius to the outer radius of the disc, and addresses in thesecond layer 54 are assigned sequentially from the outer to the innerradius.

Referring to FIGS. 7 (b) and (c), the operation management information60 in the lead-in area 56 comprises access operation identificationinformation 61, an access operation inhibition bit 62, addressinformation 63, and a reserved area 64. The access operationidentification information 61, access operation inhibition bit 62, andreserved area 64 are the same as in the first embodiment.

As the address information 63, the last address in the first layer 53,that is, the address of the boundary between areas having mutuallydiffering linear recording densities, is recorded as a logical addressreferenced to the leading address of the user data area 57. In general,either a logical address or an absolute address may be used as theaddress information 63.

The flow of operations when the dual layer hybrid optical disc 52 aboveis loaded into an optical disc driving apparatus is the same as in thefourth embodiment.

As the dual layer hybrid optical disc 52, a disc in which the firstlayer 53 is a standard-density recording area and the second layer 54 isa high-density recording area was described above, but a disc of theopposite type may be used. As the dual layer hybrid optical disc 52, adisc having both standard-density and high-density recording areas wasdescribed, but as in the fourth embodiment, a disc having layers withdifferent physical properties, such as different material properties,linear velocities, allowable reproducing laser power, or track pitch maybe used. In such cases, as the address information 63, the address of aboundary between areas with mutually differing physical properties maybe recorded, or the last address that can be read by the optical discdriving apparatus 100 may be recorded.

A disc having a reproduce-only area and a rewritable area was describedabove, but a disc having a reproduce-only area and a write-once area isalso applicable; in addition, the lead-in area 56 and lead-out area 59may include both a reproduce-only area and a rewritable or write-oncearea, as noted in the fourth embodiment.

Furthermore, the whole disc may constitute a reproduce-only area havinga recording density that is not uniform but changes at some point. Thewhole disc may also constitute a rewritable and/or a write-once area ofthis type.

A disc having two layers was described, but the number of layers is notlimited to two; it may be more than two.

According to this embodiment, in a dual layer hybrid optical disc 52having a plurality of areas with mutually differing physical propertiessuch as different linear recording densities, by reading the operationmanagement information 60, it is possible to prevent problems such asloss of recorded information, because the operations of accessing theuser data area 57 or 58 by the optical head can be inhibited. In anoptical disc driving apparatus into which such a two-layer hybridoptical disc is loaded for reproducing or recording, it is possible toprevent such problems as disabled disc rotation control, which may causethe spindle motor to run out of control, and disabled tracking control,which may cause the tracking actuator to burn out in the worst case.

Sixth Embodiment

In this embodiment, information indicating the type of optical disc,more particularly, information indicating that the optical disc is ahybrid optical disc, is recorded as identification information in theoperation management information.

FIG. 8 illustrates the recording area format of an optical disc 70 inthis embodiment. Referring to FIG. 8 (a), the BCA area 73, lead-in area74, and lead-out area 76 constitute a standard-density recording area71, and the user data area 75 constitutes a high-density recording area72. The standard-density recording area 71 is a reproduce-only area, andthe high-density recording area 72 is a rewritable area.

In this embodiment, in the operation management information 77, discidentification information 78 that indicates that the disc is a hybridoptical disc is recorded instead of the access operation identificationinformation 48 recorded in the fourth embodiment above. The operationmanagement information 77 itself in FIG. 8 (b) and, within it, theaccess operation inhibition bit 49 and reserved area 51 in FIG. 8 (c)are the same as in the fourth embodiment. More precisely, the operationmanagement information 77 is the same as in the fourth embodiment exceptthat the disc identification information 78 indicating that the disc isa hybrid optical disc is recorded in place of the access operationidentification information 48 in the fourth embodiment.

The flow of operations when the optical disc 70 is loaded into anoptical disc driving apparatus is the same as in the third embodiment,except that the operation management information extraction means 17 inthe optical disc driving apparatus 100 obtains the operation managementinformation 77 of the optical disc 70, extracts the disc identificationinformation 78, and determines whether the disc identificationinformation 78 matches identification information held in the operationmanagement information analysis means 18.

According to this embodiment, reading the operation managementinformation 77 makes it possible to inhibit operations by the opticalhead for accessing the user data area 75 even when the optical disc tobe reproduced is a type of optical disc that the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 cannot reproduce, so the contents of the optical disc canbe protected, and optical disc damage and other worst-case scenarios canbe avoided. In an optical disc driving apparatus into which such ahybrid optical disc 70 is loaded for reproducing or recording, it ispossible to prevent such problems as disabled disc rotation control,which may cause the spindle motor to run out of control, and disabledtracking control, which may, in the worst case, cause the trackingactuator to burn out.

Seventh Embodiment

In this embodiment, a case in which information indicating the versionof the standard is recorded as identification information will bedescribed.

FIG. 9 illustrates the recording area format of an optical disc 80 inthis embodiment. Referring to FIG. 9 (a), the BCA area 83, lead-in area84, and lead-out area 86 constitute a standard-density recording area81, and the user data area 85 constitutes a high-density recording area82. The standard-density recording area 81 is a reproduce-only area, andthe high-density recording area 82 is a rewritable area.

In this embodiment, in the operation management information 87, standardversion identification information 88 that indicates the version of thestandard to which the optical disc 80 conforms is recorded. Theoperation management information 87 shown in FIG. 8 (b) and, within it,the access operation inhibition bit 49 and reserved area 51 in FIG. 8(c) are the same as in the fourth embodiment. More precisely, theoperation management information 87 is the same as in the fourthembodiment except that it includes standard version identificationinformation 88 indicating the version of the standard to which theoptical disc 80 conforms instead of the access operation identificationinformation 48 in the fourth embodiment.

The flow of operations when the optical disc 80 is loaded into theoptical disc driving apparatus 100 is the same as in the thirdembodiment, except that the operation management information extractionmeans 17 in the optical disc driving apparatus 100 obtains the operationmanagement information 87 of the optical disc 80, extracts the standardversion identification information 88, and determines whether thestandard version identification information 88 matches identificationinformation held in the operation management information analysis means18.

In the sixth and seventh embodiments as described above, no addressinformation is recorded in the operation management information 77 andoperation management information 87, but of course address informationmay be recorded. Furthermore, instead of the disc identificationinformation 78 and standard version identification information 88recorded in the sixth and seventh embodiments, identificationinformation indicating other physical properties of the optical disc,such as its multi-layer structure, recording density, linear velocity,track pitch, maximum reproducing power, or maximum write power(recording power) may be recorded.

According to this embodiment, reading the operation managementinformation 87 makes it possible to inhibit operations by the opticalhead for accessing the user data area 85 even when the optical disc tobe reproduced is a type of optical disc that the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 cannot reproduce, so the contents of the optical disc canbe protected, and optical disc damage and other worst-case scenarios canbe avoided. In an optical disc driving apparatus into which an opticaldisc 80 conforming to a version of a standard that is not supported bythe optical disc driving apparatus is loaded for reproducing orrecording, it is possible to prevent such problems as disabled discrotation control, which may cause the spindle motor to run out ofcontrol, and disabled tracking control, which may, in the worst case,cause the tracking actuator to burn out.

Eighth Embodiment

FIG. 10 illustrates the recording area format of the optical disc 101 inthis embodiment. Referring to FIG. 10 (a), the recording area comprisesa BCA area 120, a lead-in area 121, a user data area 122 in whichcontent data are recorded, and a lead-out area 123 in which the sameinformation as in the lead-in area 121 is recorded.

As shown in FIG. 10 (b), the information recorded in the lead-in area121 includes operation management information 124 for controllingoperations of an optical disc driving apparatus into which the opticaldisc 101 is loaded.

FIG. 10 (c) shows the recording format of the operation managementinformation 124. Referring to the drawing, the operation managementinformation 124 comprises parameter information 125, 128, . . . in whichparameters for reproducing the optical disc 101 are recorded, operationdefinitions 126, 129, . . . that define operations carried out by theoptical disc driving apparatus when the optical disc driving apparatuscannot satisfy the conditions indicated by the parameter information125, 128, . . . , and reserved areas 127, 130, . . . that are reservedfor recording information that may be defined in the future.

As shown in FIG. 10 (d), the operation control information recorded inparameter information P 125 and operation definition P 126 is accessoperation control information for controlling access operations (seekoperations) by the optical head of the optical disc driving apparatus tothe user data area 122. More specifically, maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 for the laser beam used for reading theoptical disc 101 is given in parameter information P 125. An accessoperation inhibition bit 132 that determines whether access operationsto the user data area 122 are inhibited or not when the optical discdriving apparatus into which the optical disc 101 is loaded cannotsatisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 is assigned to operation definition P 126. Forexample, if the maximum reproducing power parameter information 131 ofthe optical disc 101 is N and the optical disc driving apparatus cannotset the reproducing power to a value past M (M>N), the optical discdriving apparatus cannot satisfy the reproducing power condition Nspecified as the maximum reproducing power parameter information 131 ofthe optical disc 101.

When the optical disc driving apparatus recognizes that it cannotsatisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 of the optical disc 101 loaded into it and theaccess operation inhibition bit 132 is ‘1’, it halts access operationsto the user data area 122 and the optical head stops reading. If theaccess operation inhibition bit 132 is ‘0’, the optical disc drivingapparatus continues normal operations without halting, even though itcannot satisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131. When the optical disc driving apparatus cansatisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131, it continues normal operations.

According to this embodiment, an optical disc driving apparatus thatcannot satisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 and accordingly can read the optical disc 101only with reproducing power exceeding that condition can inhibit accessoperations to the user data area 122, thereby avoiding worst-casescenarios such as corruption of content of the optical disc by laseroverpower and loss of recorded information.

In this embodiment, a case in which the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 is recorded as the parameter information 125,128, . . . was described, but the maximum write power (recording power)value may be recorded. Other parameter information concerning theoptical disc 101 that affects recording or reproducing conditions of theoptical disc driving apparatus, or parameter information indicating therecording or reproducing conditions directly, may also be recorded.

It is also possible to record the maximum reproducing power and maximumwrite power (recording power) as identification information thatindicates the physical properties of an optical disc in the sixth andseventh embodiments, but the eighth embodiment differs from the sixthand seventh embodiments in that, while the sixth and seventh embodimentsinhibit access operations by the optical head when the optical discdriving apparatus cannot recognize the maximum reproducing power or themaximum write power, the eighth embodiment inhibits access operations bythe optical head when the optical disc driving apparatus cannot satisfythe maximum reproducing power or maximum write power (recording power)condition.

Ninth Embodiment

Operations when the optical disc 101 in the eighth embodiment is loadedinto the optical disc driving apparatus 100 in the second embodimentwill be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The operation management information extraction means 17 in theencoder/decoder 7 extracts the operation management information 124 fromthe optical disc 101 and outputs it to the system controller 12. Theoperation management information 124 is analyzed by the operationmanagement information analysis means 18 in the system controller 12.More specifically, first the system controller 12 detects the parameterinformation 125, 128, . . . in the operation management information 124;if the optical disc driving apparatus 100 can satisfy the conditions ofthe detected parameter information 125, 128, . . . , normal operationproceeds; if it cannot satisfy the parameter information 125, 128, . . ., the operation is controlled according to the operation definitions126, 129, . . . .

When maximum reproducing power parameter information 131 is detected, ifthe optical disc driving apparatus 100 cannot set the maximumreproducing power corresponding to the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 and can operate only with a reproducing powerhigher than the maximum reproducing power parameter information 131, itperforms the operations described in operation definition P 126, whichindicates what to do in this eventuality. If the access operationinhibition bit 32 is set to ‘1’, a servo control signal S1 inhibitingaccess operations to the user data area 122 outward of the lead-in area121 is supplied to the servo processor 13. Travel of the optical headinto the user data area 122 is thereby inhibited, and a state of still(stationary) reproducing in the lead-in area 121 is entered.

Still (stationary) reproducing in the lead-in area 121 has been given asone example of access inhibition, but halt processing can be performedas described in items 1) and 2) in the second embodiment above.

When the result of the analysis of the operation management information124 is that access to the user data area 122 is possible, read commandsare issued from the host 10 and information is reproduced.

According to this embodiment, if the optical disc driving apparatuscannot satisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 and accordingly can read the optical disc 101only with a reproducing power exceeding that condition, accessoperations to the user data area 122 can be inhibited, thereby avoidingworst-case scenarios such as corruption of content of the optical discby laser overpower and loss of recorded information.

Tenth Embodiment

The flow of operations when the optical disc 101 in the eighthembodiment is loaded into the optical disc driving apparatus 100 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 11. Steps with the same referencenumbers as in FIG. 3 are the same as in FIG. 3.

In the starting operation sequence, the operation management informationextraction means 17 in the optical disc driving apparatus 100 obtainsthe operation management information 124 from the optical disc 101 andextracts the maximum reproducing power parameter information 131 (ST40).The operation management information analysis means 18 compares theextracted information with its stored parameter information and decideswhether the optical disc driving apparatus 100 satisfies the conditionindicated by the maximum reproducing power parameter information 131(ST41). If it satisfies the maximum reproducing power parameterinformation 131, the optical disc driving apparatus 100 adjusts thereproducing power, referring to the range defined by the parameterinformation stored in the optical disc driving apparatus 100, subject tothe condition indicated by the maximum reproducing power parameterinformation 131 (ST42). If the optical disc driving apparatus 100 cannotsatisfy the condition of the maximum reproducing power parameterinformation 131, more specifically, if the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 cannot set its maximum reproducing power according to thecondition defined by the maximum reproducing power parameter information131, it obtains an operation definition 132 from the optical disc 101and determines access operation restrictions according to that operationdefinition 132 (ST14). After deciding on access operation restrictionsthat determine whether or not to inhibit access operations, as describedabove, the optical disc driving apparatus 100 decides whether furtheroperations in the starting sequence would infringe upon the accessoperation restrictions (ST15). If they would infringe, that is, ifsubsequent operations in the starting sequence are inhibited accessoperations, these operations are not carried out, the starting sequenceis halted, and a standby state is entered (ST16) in which the opticaldisc driving apparatus 100 waits for a command from the host 10. If theywould not infringe, starting operations are continued, ending in atransition to the standby state in which the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 waits for a command from the host 10 (ST17).

According to this embodiment, even if the optical disc driving apparatuscannot satisfy the condition indicated by the maximum reproducing powerparameter information 131 and accordingly can read the optical disc 101only with a reproducing power exceeding that condition, accessoperations to the user data area 122 can be inhibited, thereby avoidingworst-case scenarios such as corruption of content of the optical discby laser overpower and loss of recorded information.

Eleventh Embodiment

This embodiment will describe a case in which reproducing identificationinformation indicating whether information recorded in a given area ofan optical disc can be reproduced under the reproducing conditions ofthe optical disc driving apparatus is recorded as the access operationidentification information described in the previous embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates the recording area format of the optical disc 140 inthis embodiment. Referring to FIG. 12 (a), the BCA area 143, lead-inarea 144, and lead-out area 146 constitute a standard-density recordingarea 141, and the user data area 145 constitutes a high-densityrecording area 142. The standard-density recording areas 141 arereproduce-only areas, and the high-density recording area 142 is arewritable area.

In this embodiment, in the operation management information 147,reproducing identification information 148 indicating whether theinformation recorded in the user data area 145 of the optical disc 140can be reproduced under the reproducing conditions of the optical discdriving apparatus is recorded. If the version of the standard to whichthe optical disc 140 confirms is Ver. (version) 4.0, as exemplified inFIG. 13, the reproducing identification information 148 indicateswhether an optical disc driving apparatus that was designed to astandard specified in a preceding version can reproduce the optical disc140 under the reproducing conditions of the optical disc drivingapparatus. In the case shown in FIG. 13, the optical disc 140 wasrecorded in the Ver. 4.0 standard format, for which the reproducingidentification information 148 is ‘1’, and cannot be reproduced underthe conditions of an optical disc driving apparatus that was designed toVer. 1.0 or Ver. 2.0 of the standard, for which the reproducingidentification information is ‘0’. It can, however, be reproduced by anoptical disc driving apparatus that was designed to Ver. 3.0 of thestandard, for which the reproducing identification information is ‘1’.

The operation management information 147 and the access operationinhibition bit 49 and reserved area 51 included therein, shown in FIGS.12 (b) and (c), are the same as in the fourth embodiment: the same, thatis, except that, instead of the access operation identificationinformation 48 in the fourth embodiment, the reproducing identificationinformation 148 is recorded, indicating whether information recorded inthe user data area 145 of the optical disc 140 can be reproduced.

The flow of operations when the optical disc 140 is loaded into theoptical disc driving apparatus 100 for reproducing is the same as in thethird embodiment, except that in steps ST11 and ST12, the operationmanagement information extraction means 17 in the optical disc drivingapparatus 100 obtains the operation management information 147 of theoptical disc 140, extracts the reproducing identification information148, and determines whether it matches identification information heldby the operation management information analysis means 18.

The reproducing identification information 148 is updated when anoptical disk cannot be reproduced unless the reproducing conditions ofthe optical disc driving apparatus are changed. The update is carriedout when the standard is written or revised, if the physical propertiesof the optical disc are altered to such a degree that it cannot bereproduced unless the reproducing conditions of the optical disc drivingapparatus are changed. For example, an update is carried out for anoptical disc consisting of a plurality of areas with different lineardensities, such as a hybrid optical disc or a dual-layer hybrid opticaldisc, as described in the fourth and fifth embodiments, or when thevalue of the maximum reproducing laser power is greatly changed.

In this embodiment, a case in which address information is not recordedin the operation management information 147 was described, but it goeswithout saying that address information may be recorded there.

According to this embodiment, even if the optical disc driving apparatusreproduces an optical disc 140 for which it does not have reproducingcompatibility, and thus cannot reproduce without altering itsreproducing conditions, access operations (seek operations) by theoptical head to the user data area 145 can be inhibited by reading theoperation management information 147, thereby protecting the content ofthe optical disc 140 and accordingly avoiding worst-case scenarios suchas corruption of content of the optical disc by laser overpower, andloss of recorded information. In an optical disc driving apparatus thatdrives such an optical disc 140 for which the reproducing identificationinformation 148 indicates that it does not have reproducingcompatibility, it is also possible to prevent such problems as disableddisc rotation control, which may cause the spindle motor to run out ofcontrol, and disabled tracking control, which may cause the trackingactuator to burn out.

Reproducing identification information 148 was described in thisembodiment, but the identification information may instead indicatewhether the user data area 145 (the given area) of an optical disc canbe recorded on under the recording conditions of the optical discdriving apparatus. Reproducing identification information 148 andrecording identification information are both access operationidentification information indicating whether an access operation on theuser data area 145 of an optical disc is possible, and by storingoperation management information 147 including such access operationidentification information in the optical disc, the content of theoptical disc 140 can be protected during reproducing or recording,avoiding worst-case scenarios such as damage to the optical disc.

Twelfth Embodiment

In the following embodiments, instead of operation managementinformation having identification information and operation definitions,disc management information having reproducing identificationinformation as identification information but lacking operationdefinitions is stored.

FIG. 14 illustrates the recording area format of the optical disc 201 inthis embodiment. As shown in FIG. 14 (a), from its inner edge to itsouter edge, the optical disc 201 comprises a BCA (Burst Cutting Area)220 in which information is recorded when the fabrication of the opticaldisc 1 has been completed, a lead-in area 221 in which information aboutthe physical properties of the optical disc 201 is recorded, a user dataarea 222 in which content data are recorded, and a lead-out area 223 inwhich the same information is recorded as in the lead-in area 221.Reproduction by the optical disc driving apparatus proceeds sequentiallyoutward from the inner circumference of the optical disc 201.

As shown in FIG. 14 (b), disc management information 224 for managementof disc information used in reproducing the optical disc 201 is recordedin the lead-in area 221.

FIG. 14 (c) illustrates the recording format of the disc managementinformation 224. Referring to FIG. 14 (c), the disc managementinformation 224 includes reproducing identification information 225 thatindicates whether it is possible to reproduce the information that wasrecorded in the user data area 222 of the optical disc 201 under thereproducing conditions of the optical disc driving apparatus. Thereproducing identification information 225 is the same as thereproducing identification information 148 described in the eleventhembodiment, but no access operation inhibition bit 49 is stored. Anoptical disc driving apparatus that does not match the reproducingidentification information 225 stored in the disc management information224 inhibits access operations by its optical head because it does notpossess reproducing compatibility with the optical disc 201.

The reproducing identification information 225 is updated if an opticaldisk cannot be reproduced unless the reproducing conditions of theoptical disc driving apparatus are changed. The update is carried outwhen the standard is written or revised, if the physical properties ofthe optical disc are altered to such a degree that it cannot bereproduced unless the reproducing conditions of the optical disc drivingapparatus are changed. For example, an update is carried out for anoptical disc consisting of a plurality of areas with different lineardensities, such as a hybrid optical disc or a dual-layer hybrid opticaldisc, as described in the fourth and fifth embodiments, or when thevalue of the maximum reproducing laser power is greatly changed.

Assume, for example, an optical disc driving apparatus that canreproduce an optical disc on which a recording was made at a standarddensity. For a hybrid optical disc that has standard-density recordingareas and high-density recording areas, problems such as disabled discrotation control, which may cause the spindle motor to run out ofcontrol, and disabled tracking control, which may cause the trackingactuator to burn out, may occur unless the optical disc drivingapparatus sets different reproducing conditions for the high-densityrecording areas and standard-density recording areas. When thereproducing conditions have to be altered for this reason, thereproducing identification information 225 is altered.

As another example, for an optical disc with a maximum reproducing powerparameter differing as described in the eighth embodiment, if themaximum reproducing laser power parameter has been reduced, as comparedwith the value for existing optical discs, problems such as loss ofinformation may occur unless the optical disc driving apparatus reducesits reproducing laser power, so the reproducing identificationinformation 225 is altered so as to alter the reproducing conditions.

When such an optical disc 201 is reproduced by an optical disc drivingapparatus made before the reproducing identification information 225 wasaltered, since the optical disc driving apparatus does not match thereproducing identification information 225 recorded in the optical disc201, no access operations to the user data area 222 of the optical disc201 are carried out by the optical head of the optical disc drivingapparatus.

Referring to FIG. 14 (c), the disc management information 224 includesdisc category information 226 and version information 227 in addition tothe reproducing identification information 225. The disc categoryinformation 226 indicates the category to which the optical discbelongs: the category of reproduce-only optical discs, the category ofwrite-once optical discs, or the category of rewritable optical discs.The version information 227 indicates the version of the standard towhich the optical disc conforms.

The disc category information 226 represents the broadest category ofthe disc and the version information 227 represents the narrowestcategory of the disc. More specifically, the above reproducingidentification information 225 is related to the disc categoryinformation 226 and version information 227 in such a manner that thedisc category information 226 indicates the disc category, thereproducing identification information 225 indicates the reproducingcompatibility of the disc within the category, and the versioninformation 227 distinguishes the version of the standard within thereproducing compatibility indicated by the reproducing identificationinformation 225. Therefore, as already described with reference to FIG.13, even when the version information 227 in one of two optical discswith differing version information 227 is newer than in the other, ifreproducing compatibility is maintained, it is not necessary to alterthe reproducing identification information 225.

In this embodiment, the disc management information 224 is recorded inthe lead-in area 221, but it may be recorded in the BCA area 220 orlead-out area 223.

For an optical disc comprising areas having a plurality of lineardensities, the reproducing identification information 225 is recorded inan area of comparatively low linear density, preferably in the area oflowest linear density. Assume, for example, an optical disc drivingapparatus able to accept an optical disc 202 comprising standard densityareas 203, 205 and a somewhat higher linear density area 204 as shown inFIG. 15 (a). An optical disc 206 with higher recording densities overallthan those of the optical disc 202 comprises high-density recordingareas 207, 209 and an ultra-high-density recording area 208 as shown inFIG. 15 (b). An old optical disc driving apparatus that can play opticaldisc 202 but does not match the reproducing identification information225 of optical disc 206 cannot read the ultra-high-density recordingarea 208, which corresponds to the user data area, but can reproduce thehigh-density recording areas 207, 209, so it can at least read thereproducing identification information 225, which reliably enables it toinhibit access operations to the ultra-high-density recording area 208.

In an optical disc comprising a reproduce-only area and a rewritablearea or a write-once area, the reproducing identification information225 is recorded in the reproduce-only area. When the optical disc is arewritable disc or a write-once disc, a reproduce-only area ornon-rewritable area is included at least in the lead-in area 221 andlead-out area 223, so reading the reproducing identification information225 included in the reproduce-only area can reliably inhibit accessoperations to the user data area 222.

In the description above, the area to which access operations wereinhibited when it was recognized that the optical disc driving apparatusdid not match the reproducing identification information 225 was theuser data area 222, but access operations may be halted immediatelywithout even reading the rest of the lead-in area 221.

An example in which the optical disc 201 was a reproduce-only opticaldisc such as a DVD-ROM disc was shown above; in this case, the discmanagement information 224 is preferably pre-recorded by the opticaldisc manufacturer.

According to this embodiment, even if the optical disc driving apparatusplays an optical disc 201 for which it does not have reproducingcompatibility and thus cannot play without altering its reproducingconditions, access operations by the optical head to the user data area222 can be inhibited by reading the reproducing identificationinformation 225 in the lead-in area 221, thereby protecting the contentof the optical disc 201 and accordingly avoiding worst-case scenariossuch as damage to the optical disc. Providing the reproducingidentification information 225 separately from the version informationof the standard enables reproducing compatibility to be determined justby reading the reproducing identification information 225, so opticaldisc driving apparatus and optical discs can be effectively protected.

Reproducing identification information 225 was described in thisembodiment, but recording identification information may be used asnoted in the eleventh embodiment.

The version information 227 may be altered in response to each newversion of the standard, but it need not be altered when the changes inthe standard are very minor and accordingly do not affect reproducingcompatibility and recording compatibility. In this case, the versioninformation 227 may also be altered when reproducing compatibility canbe maintained but recording compatibility cannot, such as when recordingcannot be performed under some of the recording conditions (such asconditions for high-speed recording) used in older types of optical discdriving apparatus.

When an optical disc conforms to a plurality of standards, the versioninformation 227 above may record a plurality of versions of thestandards. In this case, the version information 227 may be recordedtogether with information indicating the type of standard so that theplurality of standards to which the optical disc conforms can bedistinguished.

The disc management information 224 may also include information on thedisc capacity and maximum transfer rate.

Access operation identification information including the reproducingidentification information and recording identification informationdescribed above can be stored in an optical disc to protect the contentof the optical disc 201 during reproducing or recording, therebyavoiding worst-case scenarios such as damage to the optical disc.Providing such access operation identification information separatelyfrom the version information of the standard enables reproducingcompatibility to be determined just by reading the reproducingidentification information 225, so optical disc driving apparatus andoptical discs can be effectively protected.

Thirteenth Embodiment

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an optical disc driving apparatus 230 thatcan play the optical disc 201 in the twelfth embodiment. Operations ofcomponents with the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 in the secondembodiment are similar to the operations in the second embodiment, sodescriptions will be omitted.

As characterizing operations, initial operations performed in theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 will be described below.

First, when the optical disc 201 is inserted into the optical discdriving apparatus 230 and power is turned on, the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 accesses the optical disc 201 sequentially from its innercircumference; when the access reaches a prescribed address in thelead-in area 221, the encoder/decoder 231 starts buffering data in thebuffer memory 8, and error correction and de-interleaving of reproducedinformation are carried out.

After error correction, from the information that has been correctlyreproduced from the lead-in area 221, a disc management informationextraction means 232 in the encoder/decoder 231 extracts the discmanagement information 224 and outputs it to the system controller 233.The disc management information 224 is analyzed by a disc managementinformation analysis means 234 in the system controller 233. Morespecifically, first the system controller 233 detects the reproducingidentification information 225 recorded in the disc managementinformation 224.

If the optical disc driving apparatus 230 does not match the detectedreproducing identification information 225, more specifically, if theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 compares reproducing identificationinformation stored in the system controller 233 in the optical discdriving apparatus 230 with the reproducing identification information225 extracted form the optical disc 201 and finds that the reproducingidentification information 225 extracted from the optical disc 201 hasbeen changed to a new number, or if the optical disc driving apparatus230 itself does not store reproducing identification information, itmeans that reproducing compatibility is not assured because thereproducing conditions for the optical disc 201 have been altered, orfor some other reason, so a servo control signal S1 inhibiting access(seek) operations to the user data area 222 outward of the lead-in area221 is supplied to the servo processor 13. Travel of the optical headinto the user data area 222 is thereby inhibited, and a state of still(stationary) reproducing in the lead-in area 221 is entered.

Access (seek) operations can be inhibited by halt processing as in 1)and 2) below, as described in the second embodiment.

1) The two-axis driver 15 turns off focusing in the optical pickup 2,responsive to the focus control signal from the servo processor 13.2) The automatic laser power controller (ALPC) 11 turns off thereproducing laser power in response to the laser control signal S2 fromthe system controller 233, halting emission of light.

As a result of analysis of the disc management information 224, thesystem controller 233 outputs an access inhibition interrupt signal S3to the host 10, indicating an optical disc in which access to the userdata area 222 is inhibited. This enables the host 10 to recognize thatreproducing compatibility of the optical disc 201 loaded into theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 is not assured.

As a result of analysis of the disc management information 224, ifaccess (seek) operations to the user data area 222 are possible, a readcommand is issued from the host 10 and information is reproduced.

As in previous embodiments, the access operation identificationinformation in this embodiment is not necessarily just reproducingidentification information 225 but may also be recording identificationinformation. In this case, the system controller 233 in the optical discdriving apparatus 230 compares its own access operation identificationinformation (reproducing identification information, recordingidentification information) with the access operation identificationinformation extracted from the optical disc 201 before performingsubsequent operations.

According to this embodiment, when reproducing compatibility orrecording compatibility cannot be assured because of a new version orfor some other reason, access operations by the optical head to the userdata area 222 can be inhibited, thereby protecting the content of theoptical disc during reproducing or recording, and accordingly avoidingworst-case scenarios such as damage to the optical disc.

Fourteenth Embodiment

Referring to FIG. 17, the flow of operations when the optical disc 201in the twelfth embodiment is loaded into the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 will be described.

When the optical disc 201 is loaded into the optical disc drivingapparatus 230, the optical disc driving apparatus 230 executes astarting operation sequence in which, without relying on commands fromthe host 10, it automatically carries out various adjustments whileobtaining various information from the optical disc 201. In the startingoperation sequence, the disc management information extraction means 232in the optical disc driving apparatus 230 obtains the disc managementinformation 224 from the optical disc 201 and extracts the reproducingidentification information 225 (ST51) and the disc managementinformation analysis means 234 compares the extracted reproducingidentification information 225 with the reproducing identificationinformation acceptable to the optical disc driving apparatus (ST52). Ifthe reproducing identification information 225 extracted from theoptical disc 201 is reproducing identification information acceptable tothe optical disc driving apparatus 230, the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 continues the starting operation sequence (ST53). If thereproducing identification information 225 extracted from the opticaldisc 201 is not reproducing identification information acceptable to theoptical disc driving apparatus 230, the optical disc driving apparatus230 inhibits access to the user data area (ST54).

Continuing, after the optical disc driving apparatus 230 has performedthe sequence of starting operations in FIG. 17 and is in the standbystate, when it receives a command from the host 10, it operates as shownin FIG. 18. When the optical disc driving apparatus 230 has completedthe starting operations and is waiting for a command from the host 10,if it receives a command from the host 10 (ST55), it decides (ST56)whether or not the command matches the reproducing identificationinformation acceptable to the optical disc driving apparatus 230 asdetermined in step ST52 in the starting sequence; if it does not, theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 outputs an error signal to the host10 (ST58) and immediately enters the command waiting state. If thecommand matches the reproducing identification information acceptable tothe optical disc driving apparatus 230 as determined in the startingsequence, it executes the command (ST57), then stands by and waits foranother command.

As in previous embodiments, the access operation identificationinformation in this embodiment is not necessarily just reproducingidentification information 225 but may also be recording identificationinformation.

According to this embodiment, even when, because of a new version or forsome other reason, the optical disc 201 includes information that cannotbe read by an optical disc driving apparatus, or reproducing orrecording cannot be carried out under the reproducing conditions orrecording conditions of the optical disc driving apparatus, if theextracted access operation identification information as described aboveis information not acceptable to the optical disc driving apparatus,access operations by the optical head to the user data area 222 can beinhibited, thereby protecting the content of the optical disc duringreproducing or recording, and accordingly avoiding worst-case scenariossuch as damage to the optical disc.

Fifteenth Embodiment

In this embodiment, a case in which an optical disc driving apparatus isconnected to a data processing apparatus such as a personal computerwill be described with reference to FIG. 19. FIG. 19 shows a simplifiedview of the structure of the optical disc driving apparatus 230.

Referring to FIG. 19, the optical disc driving apparatus 230 is embeddedin a data processing apparatus 240 and connected to a control means 241in the data processing apparatus 240. The control means 241 controls notonly the optical disc driving apparatus 230 but also the data processingapparatus 240 as a whole. The host 10 described in the precedingembodiments corresponds to the control means 241 of the data processingapparatus 240.

The signal S3 sent from the system controller 233 in the optical discdriving apparatus 230 to the control means 241 in the data processingapparatus 240 may be any of the following:

(1) the access inhibition interrupt signal described in the thirteenthembodiment, which indicates that the optical disc 201 is an optical discin which access to the user data area 222 is inhibited;

(2) status information indicating that the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 is not actually accessing the user data area 222; or

(3) information including both the reproducing identificationinformation stored in the optical disc driving apparatus 230 and thereproducing identification information 225 extracted from the opticaldisc 201.

When the two items of reproducing identification information describedin (3) above are sent from the system controller 233 in the optical discdriving apparatus 230, the control means 241 in the data processingapparatus 240 first receives both items of reproducing identificationinformation and analyzes them. If the result of the analysis shows thatthe reproducing identification information 225 of the optical disc 201is not acceptable to the optical disc driving apparatus 230, apredetermined abort operation as shown in (4) and/or (5) below isperformed according to the interrupt signal or status information.

(4) The control means 241 of the data processing apparatus 240 sends thesystem controller 233 in the optical disc driving apparatus 230 acommand S4 for opening the disc tray to eject the optical disc 201 fromthe optical disc driving apparatus 230. The system controller 233 in theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 receives the command S4 and sends itto the servo processor 13; the servo processor 13 generates a loadingcontrol signal and supplies it to a loading driver 244; the loadingdriver 244 drives a loading motor 245 responsive to the loading controlsignal, whereby the optical disc 201 is automatically ejected.

(5) The control means 241 of the data processing apparatus 240 drives adisplay driver 242 to display a message on a display means 243indicating that the optical disc driving apparatus 230 cannot play theoptical disc 201. The message displayed by the display means 243 maystate that the disc cannot be accessed because of a reproducingincompatibility.

The command S4 may also be a command that enables the control means 241of the data processing apparatus 240 to check the factor that caused theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 to halt the access operation. In theabove description, the signal S3 is sent automatically from the opticaldisc driving apparatus 230, but if the control means 241 sends theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 a command S4 that requests checkingof the factor that caused the optical disc driving apparatus 230 to haltthe access operation, the optical disc driving apparatus 230 may alsosend the control means 241 a response in one of the forms (1), (2), or(3) described above.

FIG. 20 shows the flow of operations when the control means 241 in thedata processing apparatus 240 issues a command to the optical discdriving apparatus 230. More specifically, a case in which the command S4described above is issued from the control means 241 and a response oftype (3) above is sent from the optical disc driving apparatus 230 tothe control means 241 will be described.

Referring to FIG. 20, the control means 241 in the data processingapparatus 240 issues the command S4 that requests reproducingidentification information from the optical disc driving apparatus 230(ST70). Responding to this command S4, the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 sends the control means 241 in the data processingapparatus 240 two items of reproducing identification information,reproducing identification information possessed by the optical discdriving apparatus 230 and the reproducing identification information 225extracted from the optical disc 201, and the control means 241 receivesboth items of reproducing identification information (ST71).

The optical disc driving apparatus 230 determines whether thereproducing identification information 225 extracted from the opticaldisc 201 is acceptable information (ST72). If it is acceptable (YES),the optical disc driving apparatus 230 ends the operation and waits forthe next command (e.g., a command to start reproducing input by a user).If the information is not acceptable, the optical disc driving apparatus230 sends the control means 241 in the data processing apparatus 240 anerror signal S3 (ST73). The error signal may indicate an incompatibledisc or a disc having an unknown format. The control means 241 in thedata processing apparatus 240 then compares the two items of reproducingidentification information that were obtained in step ST71 (ST74); ifthey do not match (unmatch), then as the cause of the error signal wasdisagreement between the reproducing identification information in theoptical disc driving apparatus 230 and the optical disc 201, the controlmeans 241 commands the display means 243 to display a message indicatingthat the disc is inaccessible because of reproducing incompatibility(ST75). If they match (match), the error signal was sent for anotherreason, and the control means 241 commands the display means 243 todisplay an error message indicating that another reason is the cause(ST76).

In FIG. 20, steps ST70 and ST71 may be carried out after the opticaldisc driving apparatus 230 issues an error signal S3, that is, betweensteps ST73 and ST74.

In case (3) above, differing from cases (1) and (2), it is not necessaryto define a separate error signal indicating a special error signal; anordinary existing error status signal may be used, which easily providescompatibility with existing personal computers.

In this embodiment, the optical disc driving apparatus 230 is embeddedin a data processing apparatus 240, but the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 may be embedded in an optical disk recording/reproducingapparatus for recording or reproducing images and/or sounds form anoptical disc. Even such an optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus,if it has a structure similar to that of the data processing apparatus240 above, can carry out the predetermined abort operation described in(4) and/or (5) above.

As in previous embodiments, the access operation identificationinformation in this embodiment is not necessarily just reproducingidentification information 225 but may also be recording identificationinformation.

According to this embodiment, when an optical disc driving apparatus isactually built into a data processing apparatus or an optical discrecording/reproducing apparatus, a predetermined abort operation can becarried out for an optical disc for which reproducing compatibility orrecording compatibility is not guaranteed, thereby informing the user ofthe cause as well as protecting the content of the optical disc duringreproducing or recording, and avoiding worst-case scenarios such asdamage to the optical disc.

Sixteenth Embodiment

In this embodiment, a method of using the optical disc 201 shown in thetwelfth embodiment to carry out an operational test will be describedwith reference to FIG. 21; this operational test is usually carried outbefore shipment of an optical disc driving apparatus product.

Two types of optical discs 201(a) and 201(b) are used in thisoperational test method. Reproducing identification informationindicating that the optical disc driving apparatus 230 cannot reproducethe information recorded in the user data area 222 of the optical disc201(a) is recorded in the first optical disc 201 (a). Reproducingidentification information indicating that the optical disc drivingapparatus 230 can reproduce the information in the user data area 222 ofthe optical disc 201(b) is recorded in the second optical disc 201(b).Except for the reproducing identification information, the informationin the first optical disc 201(a) is identical to the information in thesecond optical disc 201(b).

As shown in FIG. 21, the first optical disc 201(a) is inserted into theoptical disc deriving apparatus under test (ST60). The disc managementinformation extracting means of the optical disc driving apparatus undertest extracts reproducing identification information from the firstoptical disc 201(a) (ST61), and the disc management informationanalyzing means compares the extracted reproducing identificationinformation with the reproducing identification information acceptableto the optical disc driving apparatus (ST62). The reproducingidentification information extracted from the first optical disc 201(a)is reproducing identification information unacceptable to the opticaldisc driving apparatus, so access to the user data area of the opticaldisc driving apparatus is inhibited (ST63). In this case, the abortprocessing described in the fifteenth embodiment is carried out: forexample, the optical disc is ejected (as described in (4) in thefifteenth embodiment), or a message indicating that the optical discdriving apparatus 230 cannot reproduce the optical disc is displayed (asdescribed in (5) in the fifteenth embodiment). If not automaticallyejected, the first optical disc 201(a) is ejected manually (ST64).

Next, the second optical disc 201(b) is inserted in the optical discdriving apparatus under test (ST65). The disc management informationextracting means of the optical disc driving apparatus under testextracts reproducing identification information from the second opticaldisc 201(b) (ST66), and the disc management information analyzing meanscompares the extracted reproducing identification information with thereproducing identification information acceptable to the optical discdriving apparatus (ST67). The reproducing identification informationextracted from the second optical disc 201(b) is reproducingidentification information acceptable to the optical disc drivingapparatus, so access to the user data area of the optical disc drivingapparatus is carried out (ST68). In this case, a message indicating thataccess to the user data area was carried out, or images and/or sounddata stored in the user data area, are displayed by the display means243 shown in FIG. 19. Then the second optical disc 201(b) is ejected(ST69).

As described above, the first optical disc 201(a) can be used to checkthat access is inhibited and the second optical disc 201(b) can be usedto check that access is not inhibited, assuring that the optical discdriving apparatus will operate normally.

If access operations are not inhibited when the first optical disc201(a) is inserted (ST62), or access operations are inhibited when thesecond optical disc 201(b) is inserted (ST67), it can be recognized thatthe optical disc driving apparatus is operating abnormally, and theoperation test is terminated forthwith.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 21, the order of the tests with the firstoptical disc 201(a) and the second optical disc 201(b) may be exchanged.

In this embodiment, the first optical disc 201(a) and the second opticaldisc 201(b) have identical information except for their reproducingidentification information, but it is only necessary for the informationrecorded in the user data area 222 to be identical. If at least theinformation recorded in the user data area 222 is made identical, areproducible disc and a non-reproducible disc can be easilydistinguished, making it easy to carry out the operational test of theoptical disc driving apparatus.

The above description was based on the optical disc 201 in the twelfthembodiment, but the optical discs in the other embodiments may be usedsimilarly.

The reproducing identification information 225 may be replaced withrecording identification information.

According to this embodiment, optical discs holding access operationidentification information, such as reproducing identificationinformation or recording identification information, can be used inoperational tests to recognize easily whether or not the optical discdriving apparatus will operate normally. In particular, if the methodused for the abort processing described above is standardized amongoptical disc driving apparatus manufacturers, it becomes easier to testwhether access to optical discs without reproducing compatibility orrecording compatibility is reliably inhibited.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

This invention can provide an optical disc, an optical disc drivingapparatus, an optical disc driving method, a data processing apparatusconnected to the optical disc driving apparatus, an optical discrecording/reproducing apparatus incorporating the optical disc drivingapparatus, operational testing optical discs, and an operational testmethod that make it possible to carry out optimal management and preventthe optical disc driving apparatus from damaging itself or the opticaldisc.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. An optical disc used in an optical disc driving apparatus in which information is accessed by an optical head and the accessed information is read, wherein access operation identification information indicating whether or not the optical disc driving apparatus can access a particular area of the optical disc is held in a second area other than the particular area.
 22. The optical disc of claim 21, wherein the access operation identification information is reproducing identification information indicating whether information recorded in the particular area of the optical disc is reproducible or not under reproducing conditions of the optical disc driving apparatus.
 23. The optical disc of claim 21, wherein the access operation identification information is recording identification information indicating whether information can be recorded in the particular area of the optical disc or not under recording conditions of the optical disc driving apparatus.
 24. The optical disc of claim 21, wherein: the optical disc comprises areas having a plurality of linear densities, and among the areas having a plurality of linear densities, the second area is an area having a lowest linear density.
 25. The optical disc of claim 21, wherein the optical disc comprises a reproduce-only area and a rewritable area or a write-once area, and the second area is the reproduce-only area.
 26. An optical disc driving apparatus for driving the optical disc of claim 21, having: means for the extracting access operation identification information from the optical disc; and means for analyzing the extracted access operation identification information; wherein the optical disc driving apparatus executes an access operation restriction that determines whether the optical head is inhibited from accessing the particular area, according to a result of analysis by the means for analyzing.
 27. The optical disc driving apparatus of claim 26, wherein: the optical disc driving apparatus is connected to a control means that controls the optical disc driving apparatus; and transmits to the control means a command to execute the access control restriction.
 28. The optical disc driving apparatus of claim 26, wherein the optical disc driving apparatus is connected to a control means that controls the optical disc driving apparatus, and transmits to the control means a status message indicating that it is executing the access control restriction.
 29. The optical disc driving apparatus of claim 26, wherein: the optical disc driving apparatus is connected to a control means that controls the optical disc driving apparatus; the means for analyzing compares access operation identification information possessed by the optical disc driving apparatus with the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc and then executes the access operation restriction; and both the access operation identification information possessed by the optical disc driving apparatus and the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc are transmitted to the control means.
 30. The optical disc driving apparatus of claim 27, wherein, when the access operation restriction is carried out, the transmission to the control means is carried out after a request from the control means.
 31. A data processing apparatus comprising the optical disc driving apparatus of claim 27 and the control means connected to the optical disc driving apparatus, wherein: the control means receives the command or status message, and if the command or status message indicates inhibition of the access operation, the control means performs predetermined abort processing.
 32. A data processing apparatus comprising the optical disc driving apparatus of claim 29 and the control means connected to the optical disc driving apparatus, wherein: the control means receives and analyzes the access operation identification information possessed by the optical disc driving apparatus and the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc, and performs predetermined abort processing if the result of the analysis is that the optical disc driving apparatus does not accept the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc.
 33. The data processing apparatus of claim 31, wherein the predetermined abort processing comprises a process of transmitting a command to eject the optical disc to the optical disc driving apparatus and/or a process of causing it to be displayed that access to the optical disc is not possible with the optical disc driving apparatus.
 34. An optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus including the optical disc driving apparatus of claim 27, and the control means connected to the optical disc driving apparatus, for recording or reproducing images and/or sound on the optical disc, wherein: the control means receives the command or status message, and if the command or status message indicates inhibition of the access operation, the control means performs predetermined abort processing.
 35. An optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus including the optical disc driving apparatus of claim 29, and the control means connected to the optical disc driving apparatus, for recording or reproducing images and/or sound on the optical disc, wherein: the control means receives and analyzes the access operation identification information possessed by the optical disc driving apparatus and the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc, and performs predetermined abort processing if the result of the analysis is that the optical disc driving apparatus does not accept the access operation identification information extracted from the optical disc.
 36. The optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus of claim 34, wherein the predetermined abort processing comprises a process of transmitting to the optical disc driving apparatus a command to eject the optical disc and/or a process of causing it to be displayed that access to the optical disc is not possible with the optical disc driving apparatus.
 37. An optical disc driving method for driving the optical disc of claim 21, comprising the steps of: extracting access operation identification information of the optical disc; and analyzing the extracted access operation identification information; wherein an access operation restriction that determines whether the optical head is inhibited from accessing the particular area is executed according to a result of analysis of the extracted access operation identification information.
 38. An operational testing optical disc for use in a method of operationally testing an optical disc driving apparatus, wherein: access operation identification information indicating whether or not the optical disc driving apparatus can access a particular area of the optical disc is held in a second area other than the particular area.
 39. The operational testing optical disc of claim 38, wherein: information indicating that the optical disc drive apparatus cannot access information recorded in the particular area of the operational testing optical disc is recorded as the access operation identification information; and in comparison with an operational testing optical disc holding access operation identification information indicating accessibility by the optical disc driving apparatus, information other than the access operation identification information is identical.
 40. A method of operationally testing an optical disc driving apparatus by means of the operational testing optical disc of claim 38, comprising the steps of: using a first operational testing optical disc, on which is recorded access operation identification information indicating that the optical disc driving apparatus cannot access the information recorded in the particular area, to confirm that the access operation by the optical head is inhibited in the optical disc driving apparatus; and using a second operational testing optical disc, on which is recorded access operation identification information indicating that the optical disc driving apparatus can access the information recorded in the particular area, to confirm that the access operation by the optical head is not inhibited in the optical disc driving apparatus. 